$1.62M Federal Grant for Kettering Fuel Cell Center

25 December 2005

Kettering University’s Center for Fuel Cell Systems and Powertrain Integration has received a $1.62-million grant from the US Department of Commerce to help build an Advanced Technology and Renewable Energy (ATRE) building.

The ATRE building would be the first research building in the proposed research and technology park the school has been trying to launch for several years. Delphi Corporation is currently on track to become the main tenant in the $2.76-million park.

Up until 1998, Kettering was the GMI Engineering & Management Institute, formerly the General Motors Institute of technology. GM opened the predecessor of the institute in 1919 as part-time training school and then fully inaugurated the institute in 1926.

The Institute became the GMI Engineering and Management Institute and an independent educational institution, separate from General Motors, in 1982.

Charles Kettering, for whom the institute was renamed, invented (among many other things) the electric auto ignition and self-starter for automobiles. This first appeared on the 1912 Cadillac. Within a few years, his company Delco produced a complete starting, ignition and lighting system credited with supporting the phenomenal rise of the automobile industry.